Sec. 9-348ee. Filing of campaign finance statements in electronic form. (a) The
Secretary of the State shall (1) not later than July 1, 1998, create a software program or
programs for the preparation of financial disclosure statements required by section 9-
333j, and (2) not later than July 1, 1999, prescribe the standard reporting format and
specifications for other software programs created by vendors for such purpose, subject
to the approval, for legal sufficiency, of the State Elections Enforcement Commission.
No software program created by a vendor may be used for the electronic submission of
such financial disclosure statements, until the Secretary of the State determines that the
program provides for the standard reporting format, and complies with the specifications, which are prescribed under subdivision (2) of this subsection for vendor software
programs. The secretary, in consultation with the commission, shall provide training in
the use of the software program or programs created by the secretary. Sec. 9-348ff. Conversion of data from paper format to electronic format. On
and after January 1, 2000, the Secretary of the State shall, within available appropriations, convert all data in statements required by section 9-333j that are filed in paper
format on and after such date, to an electronic format and be authorized to use a portion
of the funds for oversight of such conversion. Sec. 9-348gg. Public access to computerized data from campaign finance
statements. On and after January 1, 2000, the Secretary of the State shall make all
computerized data from statements required by section 9-333j available to the public
through (1) computer terminals in the Office of the Secretary of the State and, if feasible,
at remote access locations and (2) the Internet or any other generally available on-line
computer network.
(b) On and after January 1, 1999, the campaign treasurer of the candidate committee
for each candidate for nomination or election to the office of Governor, Lieutenant
Governor, Attorney General, State Comptroller, State Treasurer or Secretary of the State
who raises or spends two hundred fifty thousand dollars or more during an election
campaign shall file in electronic form all financial disclosure statements required by
said section 9-333j by either transmitting disks, tapes or other electronic storage media
containing the contents of such statements to the office of the Secretary of the State or
transmitting the statements on-line to said office. Each such campaign treasurer shall
use either (1) a software program created by the Secretary of the State under subdivision
(1) of subsection (a) of this section, for all such statements filed on or after January 1,
1999, or (2) another software program which provides for the standard reporting format,
and complies with the specifications, which are prescribed by the secretary under subdivision (2) of subsection (a) of this section, for all such statements filed on or after July
1, 1999. The office of the Secretary of the State shall accept any statement that uses any
such software program. Once any such candidate committee has raised or spent two
hundred fifty thousand dollars or more during an election campaign, all previously filed
statements required by said section 9-333j, which were not filed in electronic form shall
be refiled in such form, using such a software program, not later than the date on which
the campaign treasurer of the committee is required to file the next regular statement
under said section 9-333j.
(c) On and after January 1, 1999, (1) the campaign treasurer of the candidate committee for any other candidate, as defined in section 9-333a, who is required to file the
financial disclosure statements required by section 9-333j with the office of the Secretary
of the State and (2) the campaign treasurer of any political committee or party committee,
may file in electronic form any financial disclosure statements required by said section
9-333j. Such filings may be made by either transmitting disks, tapes or other electronic
storage media containing the contents of such statements to the proper authority under
section 9-333e or transmitting the statements on-line to such proper authority. Each
such campaign treasurer shall use either (A) a software program created by the Secretary
of the State under subdivision (1) of subsection (a) of this section, for all such statements
filed in electronic form on or after January 1, 1999, or (B) another software program
which provides for the standard reporting format, and complies with the specifications,
which are prescribed by the secretary under subdivision (2) of subsection (a) of this
section, for all such statements filed in electronic form on or after July 1, 1999. The
proper authority under section 9-333e shall accept any statement that uses any such
software program.
(June 18 Sp. Sess. P.A. 97-5, S. 1, 19.)
History: June 18 Sp. Sess. P.A. 97-5 effective July 1, 1997 (Revisor's note: In Subsec. (b) the second occurrence of
the word "or" in the phrase "or (2) or another ..." was deleted editorially by the Revisors for grammatical accuracy).
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(June 18 Sp. Sess. P.A. 97-5, S. 2, 19; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 99-1, S. 8, 51.)
History: June 18 Sp. Sess. P.A. 97-5 effective July 1, 1997; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 99-1 required that conversion be within
available appropriations, rather than to the extent feasible, and authorized use of a portion of funds for conversion oversight,
effective July 1, 1999.
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(June 18 Sp. Sess. P.A. 97-5, S. 3, 19; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 99-1, S. 9, 51.)
History: June 18 Sp. Sess. P.A. 97-5 effective July 1, 1997; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 99-1 changed data availability date
from January 1, 1999, to January 1, 2000, effective July 1, 1999.
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